TO A. D. TSYURUPA

Written:Written on February 21, 1922Published:First published in 1928 inLenin Miscellany VIII.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1971,

      Moscow,Volume 36,

      page566.Translated:Andrew RothsteinTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive.You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work, as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

ON THE SUBJECT OF THE DRAFT DIRECTIVES
		    TO THE NARROW COUNCIL OF PEOPLE’S
			 COMMISSARS[1]

ComradeTsyurupa,

Ithink we arc still radically at odds. The main thing,
in my opinion, is to shift the centre of gravity from writing
decrees and orders (our stupidities in this respect verge on
idiocy) toselection of peopleandchecking fulfilment.
This is the essential point.

Isthe Narrow Council unsuitable for this? Let’s assume
that. Thenyou and Rykovmust devote 9/10ths of your
time to it (it isridiculousto expect the Workers’ and
Peasants’ Inspection and the Executive Secretary to do more
than fulfilsimpleinstructions). All of us are sunk in the
rotten bureaucratic swamp of “departments”. Great
authority, common sense and strong will are necessary for the
everyday struggle against this. The departments are shit;
decrees are shit. To find men and check up on their work—
that is the whole point. If you+Rykov set about this for
9/10ths of your time, and make the Executive Secretary
(and sometimes also members of the Narrow Council of
People’s Commissars) your assistants, then perhaps we can
get by.

Sendme once again your draft about the Narrow Council
of People’s Commissars.

[1]Writtenin reply to A. D. Tsyurupa’s objections to Lenin’s
proposal on a draft directive to the Narrow Council (see present
edition, Vol. 35, p. 540).